Feet first

Not long ago, Ed Vickers quit his job and launched SUMS, a socks brand that pairs running with social purpose. For every customer that records their run on Sum’s Strava Club, the brand donates 5p to charity. Here he explains more about the brand. 

There are so many running clubs and brands out there right now. Is that a benefit or a curse when launching a new brand in the same space? 

“The more runners, running brands and running clubs the better. ‘Running’ is such a widely encompassing term with so many sub-cultures, sub-communities, and sub-disciplines within it. The more representation and support that brands and clubs can offer each sub-category of runner the better. This way the whole sport is lifted. Of course this comes hand in hand with the rise of noise and competition, which means that broadness, mediocrity or ‘sameness’ either in your product, brand or message won’t cut the mustard – everyone has to up their game which is of ultimate service to runners. This certainly sharpens the senses and is a daily challenge!”

How do you stand out?

My hunch is that when your category competition intensifies, it’s all the more reason to stay in your lane, go niche, master a craft, refine a painfully-simple proposition, and focus on building fewer, deeper relationships with customers who stick around over that of trying to monetise the masses with a generalist offer. In my opinion it’s patience and focus that sets the good brands from the greats in this space. Something I’m desperately trying to learn! My hunch is that as the ‘coolification’ of running passes, it will be the specialist brands who ‘stick to their knitting’ that stand the test of time.

Which other running brands are doing a great job of standing out? 

I love what the team at RUNLIMITED are doing by focusing on crafting a run-hub over that of another club – primarily through physical brick and mortar space that brings different running brands and clubs together for collaboration and cross-pollination of communities. An example being their popup store in Soho over the London Marathon which they’re thoughtfully curating. I also love how Maverick Race have built their brand so steadily over time, simply through consistently pulling together trail events, season after season, weekend after weekend – rain or shine. I think they have a genuinely unique identity that reflects the nuisances of the trail runner’s character. They have a crazy customer retention rate which is the ultimate metric of showing they’re doing something right. What set’s these two particular brands apart are the people who run them. They genuinely care about the elevation of their sport and know the specific role they play in the wider ecosystem.